Note note 80 — APPENDIX. No. III.

(80.) The Arab tribe of Howara (هوارة) occupy all the villages on both sides of the Nile from near Siout up to Farshiout and Haou on the west, and to near Kenne on the east; at least the principal and most wealthy peasants of these villages belong to that tribe. Until the time of Mohammed Aly they were very powerful, and a branch of them, the Oulad Yahya (اولاد يحيي), settled on the east banks from Badjoura to Kenne (comprising the large villages of Salmye, Kaszer e’Seyad, Faoun, and Disher), were very conspicuous for their rebellious behaviour. The province of the Howara is of all Egypt the richest in horses, and the best breed of Egyptian horses is reared there. Every wealthy peasant kept his horse, and a large corps of cavalry could thus be collected at a moment’s notice.[206] The Hamam, the principal family of the Howara, had within the last century assumed the whole government of Upper Egypt, south of Siout, and the Mamelouks had been obliged to cede it to them by treaty. Their government was certainly more just than that of the Osmanlis, and although Mamelouks, far from being entitled to praise. The soil was moderately taxed: one Fedhan at Esne, which now pays 14 Patacks to Mohammed Aly, then paid only two Patacks; but extortions were practised upon all merchants, especially at Kenne, and Farshiout, and Girge; and the numerous relations of the Hamam governed in their own districts with great oppression and pride. None had more to suffer from the Howara than the Copts. Such of these people as were not in the service of the Shikhs Hamam, as financiers or writers, but who were employed, as many of them still are, in agriculture or in crafts, especially weaving, were so much exposed to the extortions of the Hamams and the Howara in general, who appear to have been very fanatic, that they found no other means for ensuring repose and protection than by offering themselves in slavery to their oppressors. It thus happened that in every village of southern Egypt, where Copts were settled, the latter chose one of the Howara Shikhs as his master; whom he called “my Bedouin,” (بدويّ), and was called by the Shikh “my Christian,” (نصرانيّ). He became now like a member of his master’s family; if he was poor, the latter sent to his house provisions of corn and butter, and gave him a dress every year; but in return, he was obliged to be constantly attending to his master’s orders; assisting him in his field labours, doing all kind of work for him, and accompanying him on an ass like a servant, whenever the Shikh rode out to meet his equals or superiors. If the Copt happened to be in good circumstances, he was obliged to make occasional presents to his master, who exempted him on that account from hard work, and protected him from the oppressions of any other Shikh. If the daughter of the serf was to be married, the master entered her house on the wedding night; and put an iron chain round her ankles, which he secured with a padlock, and the bridegroom was obliged to make him a present in order to have the padlock opened, and the girl restored to liberty. The possession of these Christians was transmitted by the Shikhs to their descendants, who seldom parted with them, unless they were themselves reduced to poverty, when they sometimes sold them to the protection of other Shikhs. In 1812 a Christian family residing on the east bank, opposite to Siout, was thus sold for two Erdeybs of corn. I am ignorant of the exact time in which this custom took its origin, but I believe it has subsisted only since the establishment of the Hamam. It is still in usage in Upper Egypt, in many parts of the open country, and especially in the most southern districts, where the peasants, although quite in subjection to the Pasha, are left in their own villages to act at pleasure, the government caring little for the impositions practised by the village Shikh upon poor individuals, provided the land tax be regularly paid. During my stay at Esne, I was well acquainted with several Christians who were thus the hereditary slaves or servants of great Shikhs, and I have myself assisted at the ceremony of tying the chain at the wedding. The Hamams were not quiet possessors of Upper Egypt even after the Mamelouks had made peace with them. They were exposed on the northern side to continual attacks from the Libyan Bedouin tribes of Tarhoun, Amaym, Djahame, Rabaya, and others, who dwell in the desert west of Siout and in the plain towards Beni Ady, and many accounts of battles fought between them and the Howara are still related. On the south, the tribe of Kaszas (قصاص) who people the country on the west banks from Thebes to near Esne, and to whom belong the inhabitants of Gourne, Orment, and Reheygat (all celebrated for their bold plundering enterprises) were their determined enemies; although both these and the Howara report that they have the same origin from Barbary. When, after Aly Beg, the Mamelouk power had increased in Egypt, the Hamams were attacked by them, and defeated in several bloody encounters, and the chief Hamam being wounded, fled to Esne, where he died. He was buried at Nagady opposite Kous. The treasure, in cash, which he had accumulated was in vain searched for; his people put to the torture, confessed that he had buried it in the mountains behind Haou; but nothing could be found, although to this day many a ruined peasant or pedlar, or necromancer wanders in that direction in the hopes of finding it. The power of the Hamams was thus destroyed, but that of the Howara remained, and the Mamelouk Begs, though often at war with them, could never break their strength. A part of them, the Oulad Yahya, for instance, were often entirely independent, and the village Shikhs themselves received the land tax from the peasants.[207] When Mohammed Aly had succeeded in driving away the Mamelouks, he was several years before he could reduce the Howara. His governors in Upper Egypt, Abdim Beg, Saleh Aga, Hassan Pasha, sacked many of their villages, but it was his own son, Ibrahim Pasha, who firmly settled his authority by acts of great rigour and severity, having killed by the sword or the executioner at least 2000 Howara. He changed the Shikhs of villages, in the same manner as the Wahabi chief had changed the Shikhs of the Arabian tribes; he disunited the villages among themselves, and punished with celerity and without any mercy all those who opposed the smallest obstacles to his authority. The last village sacked by Ibrahim Pasha in Upper Egypt was Orment, the chief place of the Kaszas, who had withheld their tribute. In the autumn of 1813, he fell by night upon that village, killed about 30 of the principal people and plundered all. Since that time Upper Egypt is completely reduced to submission. The Howara have now been obliged to abandon their horses, none but the Shikhs of villages dare keep any, and their dreaded cavalry is thus completely reduced. The descendants of Hamam, the chief, still remain; I knew a nephew of his at Farshiout and another at Esne; the latter had several Christians belonging to his family as serfs.